Messenger
Messenger ( 使者 / ししゃ / shisha ) is the twelfth chapter of the Elfen Lied manga series. A story arc digest of chapters eight through twelve is also available. Plot Inside the Diclonius Research Institute Kurama, Isobe and Shirakawa peer into a medical room housing a severely injured Diclonius. Also known as Number 7, she has never having harmed a human with her vectors, and while she seems ideal for a mission to recover Lucy, Isobe worries that the cruelty of the experiments she's endured will make her unwilling to aid them. Kurama then walks into the room where the girl named Nana is staying in. Nana becomes overjoyed to the point of crying by his visit since she thinks that Kurama is her birth father. Isobe and Shirakawa discuss how the girl cannot possibly be his real daughter, and how she latched onto the idea that he was her 'papa' to keep her from going insane, living and enduring solely to live up to his expectations. Dressed in regular clothes for perhaps the first time in her life, Nana is delighted but then horrified when Kurama tells her she must kill someone. Nana refuses, even though it is for her 'papa's' sake. When she learns that he will be in trouble if she doesn't kill, they compromise by agreeing that she will use her ability to sense another Diclonii to find Lucy, and then radio back for armed support. The idea that doing this will help him get out of trouble overjoys her. Asking for his necktie as a lucky headdress, Nana departs for the mainland. Kurama publicly states to Isobe that she is a valuable asset and ultimately is an expendable scout, but secretly wishes for her to come back safely. At Maple House, Yuka repeats her test-proposition to Kouta by asking him if he would like to fondle her breasts as he did with Nyu's. Her plan is that either he takes her up on such an offer or to punch him hard. Instead, he ends up slapping her in the face with the bottom of his slipper as she turns to strike him. He apologizes and tells a stunned Yuka that he meant to hit her on the back of her head, knowing what she said to be a test from the extreme nature of her words and from seeing her clenched fists. For his failed attempt at caution, he is struck anyway while a crying Yuka leaves the room while declaring her hatred towards him. A still-stunned Kouta wonders where Nyu is, and also about what lies ahead in his increasingly awkward situation. On the temple stairway's stone steps near the cemetery, the newly-arrived Nana finds a brooding Lucy. Knowing that they have already sensed one another, Nana tells her that she is there to take her back to the facility. Trivia *This chapter introduces Nana, one of the series' main characters and the direct counterpart to Lucy, as well as her relationship with and extreme desire to please Kurama. Nowhere in the series does the nature vs. nurture debate stand out more strongly than in Nana's case. *On this chapter cover, a delighted Yuka once more enjoys the outdoors and the sunshine. Gallery ELC12MSNGR.JPG|Papa's little girl... Category:Series Information Category:Story Related Category:Manga Category:Basis for anime Category:Article